More than Magic: Semester Aboard (30 page)

Still chuckling, Dani sat down and flipped
open his notebook. I looked out at the water and watched him out of
the corner of my eye as he went back to studying. I had sort of
come to terms with everyone being a lot older than me. Even though
it was still strange to think of Charlie and Thomas as being sixty,
it was easier to accept than Dani being eighty. As I watched him I
tried to figure out why it bothered me so much. Eventually, I
managed to put a finger on it. I'd seen a shirt or something
recently that said
Sixty is the new Forty
. It was still a
good generation or two removed from me, but eighty was more than
that. Grandparents were eighty, not
friends
. Honestly, I
wasn't sure how many people Dani's age I had ever spoken to.
Rachel's parents were in their seventies, but we never spent much
time together and none of my biological grandparents were still
alive. And I had interviewed an eighty-something-year-old woman for
a class once. Aside from her I couldn't think of anyone even close
to eighty that I had spent much time interacting with. Suddenly,
curiosity struck the history major in me.

"What year were you born?"

"Hm? Oh, 1928."

Wow. "What's your memory like?" I couldn't
even begin to imagine all of the things he had lived through. The
interview I had done had been neat, but the woman's memory hadn't
been very sharp and she had seemed confused about some facts.
Someone like Dani was the sort of primary source that history buffs
would die to talk to.

He looked up and studied me for a moment,
looking amused. "I'm not senile if that's what you're getting
at."

I blushed and tried to defend my question.
"Well, I mean...eighty years is a long time."

Dani chuckled. "Why do I have a feeling that
you're about to start interrogating me?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I'm a history
major."

"Mm." He leaned back in his chair and propped
his legs up on the table. "I do have to finish this essay. But I'll
give you a minute or two to satiate your curiosity."

I tried to think of all of the moments of
historical note he'd lived through. "Do you remember World War
Two?"

He laughed. "You're asking the guy who lived
in a Nazi occupied country if he remembers World War Two?" I was
pretty sure my jaw dropped. "I was eleven when Italy invaded
Greece. And Germany was right behind them. Then one war wasn't
enough, so we had a Civil War too."

I felt like a bad history major, then again I
hadn't taken any classes on modern-day Greece. "I didn't realize
there was a Greek Civil War. What happened?

"Communism." Dani practically spat the word
and a streak of black rippled through his eyes. He was quiet for a
moment, but before I could answer he stretched and then grinned.
"Honestly, I'm not the best person to ask about World War Two. I
was a just dumb teenager who thought war was neat. Plus, I spent
most of the forties underwater."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

That sounded like he'd spent the entire
decade underwater! He was a good swimmer and I was pretty sure he
could breathe underwater but that still seemed like a stretch. "How
long can you stay underwater?"

Dani chuckled. "How long can you stay on
land?"

Charlie slid the door open and leaned out
onto the balcony. "Thomas just called. He and TS are on their way
back and they've got Mariana with them."

"Splashy!" Dani said.

"And your mother called."

Dani groaned. "I'm in the middle of a huge
paper, I don't have several hours to waste listening to my Ma talk
at me about God-knows-what."

Charlie looked down at the table with a
smirk. "Too bad you didn't start your essay when it was
assigned."

"Yeah. No matter. Next time I go back to
school I won't procrastinate."

"Funny, that's what you said last time."
Charlie went back into the room and closed the door before Dani
could respond.

Dani whistled and picked his notebook back
up. For the first time the absurdity of an eighty-one-year-old
doing homework and dreading phone calls from his mother hit me.

"You're eighty-one," I said.

Dani looked at me with an amused smirk. "I
am."

"Your mother still calls you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately."

"But you're
eighty-one
!"

"Mm-hmm. Which, by magic standards, is still
a young adult and, as my Ma is so fond of reminding me, I'll
always be her little boy
." He added the last part in a
female voice that I assumed was an impression of his mother. He
rolled his eyes again. "You'd think her new granddaughter would
distract her, but no, she still finds the time to call me."

He started writing again and I leaned closer
to see his notebook. He had a few paragraphs of an essay started.
"You're writing your essay by hand?"

Dani laughed. "Archaic, isn't it? I prefer
handwriting it to start with, but I'll type it up when I'm done. In
my opinion spell-check is one of the greatest inventions of the
last century. I don't know how I got along without it." He looked
up at the door and into the room with a grin. "Actually, I do know
and I'm sure Charlie is glad I've stopped making him proof-read my
essays."

"So, you've been to college before?"

"Mm. I'm about to finish up my fourth
bachelor's."

His
fourth
? I liked college, but I
couldn't imagine going four times. Then again, if magics never
looked any older than college students, what else could we do?
"Doesn't it get boring pretending to be a college student?"

"I am a college student."

"You know what I meant."

Dani grinned. "Believe it or not, I wasn't
being a dick there. I got a couple of my degrees just for fun, but
this one is actually for work."

"Really? Why do you need that many?"

Dani hummed thoughtfully. "Let me put it this
way, you've got two non-magics with almost identical resumes, ok?
The only difference is that one of them has a few credits toward
another degree. Who gets the job?"

"Well, if the extra credits relate to the
job, I'd say that one."

Dani nodded. "Exactly. Now if that were
magics it wouldn't come down to a few credits here and there, it
would be an entire degree. What's a few years in school once in a
while if you're immortal?"

I hadn't thought of it that way, but it made
sense.

"Plus," Dani continued, "a non-magic with a
fifty year old degree is probably what, seventy-something? He's not
going to need another degree. I, on the other hand, have a few
degrees that are more than fifty years out of date." It was really
strange to know he probably wasn't exaggerating. "Those are going
to start doing more harm than good on my resume. Magic employers
are going to wonder why I've never bothered to get new ones."

I nodded. The thought of going back to school
didn't seem that bad. I did feel sort of a pressure to finish my
degree and start working and become an adult all in my early
twenties; it was odd to know that that pressure wasn't there
anymore. When I didn't say anything else, Dani went back to his
essay. I kept watching him while he wrote, trying not to feel too
overwhelmed.

"Whales," he said suddenly.

"What?"

He tilted his head like he was listening. "I
hear whales. Pilot whales I think." He pointed into the distance.
"Over that way a bit. I think they're too far to see though."

"You can hear them?"

"Yeah." He went back to his essay as if
hearing whales was no big deal.

A few minutes later the door the door slid
open and Thomas joined us. "We're back."

Dani grinned and started gathering up his
essay. "Thanks for getting Mariana."

"Not a problem."

"How was your trip?" Thomas asked me.

"It was good."

Dani went into the room, and then practically
slammed the door shut. The lock clicked into place just as Thomas
dove for the handle.

"Really?" Thomas demanded.
"
Really
?"

Dani blew him a kiss and closed the
curtain.

"I should have pushed you off a ski slope
when I had the chance!" Thomas yelled. Then he frowned. "I what?
Why?" He paled and threw a guilty look my way. A moment later he
heaved a sigh and leaned against the rail next to me. "So...it
appears I owe you an apology."

"For what?" I asked in surprise.

He chewed his upper lip for a moment and then
sighed again. "I am
so
sorry, Jennifer. I can't believe I
didn't tell you that you're immortal. I was
sure
I did. I
just..." He laughed weakly. "I don't think 'it slipped my mind' is
a valid excuse for something that important. I'm sorry you had to
find out the way you did."

"It's ok. I mean...I'm a little overwhelmed,"
I admitted. "I am ok though."

"Good." He took my hand and gave it a
squeeze. I couldn't decide if he let his hand linger on mine for an
extra second or not. I hoped I wasn't blushing. "So, your trip was
good?"

"Yeah." I somehow managed to sound casual.
"Yours?"

"I always have a good time skiing."

The following silence was almost awkward.
"What are you doing in Peru?" I asked.

"Machu Picchu and a lodge in the Amazon.
Sounds like sort of a whirlwind trip, but I'm looking forward to
it."

"I am too!" I practically cried. I should
not
have been that excited about it. I hoped that Dani was
right about Thomas not being very observant. God, I'd be so
embarrassed if he realized I had a crush on him.

Thomas smiled and I couldn't help but wonder
if his smile had always been that warm. "Keen! We'll have fun." He
looked suddenly at the door. "Oh good, it's unlocked now."

We went inside and joined the others. Mariana
and TS were both unpacking and Charlie was sitting on his bed.
Thomas glared at Dani and crossed the room to the other bed.

"Sorry for locking you outside alone with
Thomas," Dani said with a wink. I stared at him in disbelief, but
he chuckled and sat down next to Charlie.

TS and Mariana both sat down and I joined
them. Thomas, who I hoped hadn't caught Dani's emphasis on
alone
, sat down on the other bed.

"Right," TS said grimly. "The local
authorities spotted the biter in the port shortly after we docked.
They've been following him because, despite the fact we reported
him feeding, they won't take action without physical evidence.
Which, to be honest, is em..."

"Progressive," Thomas supplied.

"Very," Charlie agreed, sounding
surprised.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't work out for us
because they lost track of him. Your sighting today was the most
recent one."

"So, they have no idea where he is now?" Dani
asked.

TS shook his head. "They're going to set up a
perimeter around the port to make sure he doesn't get back on the
ship. They'll call me after we leave the port with an update." He
frowned. "But, once we leave the port we're no longer in their
jurisdiction and that's that."

Dani sighed. "Well, better than nothing I
suppose."

"I figure we'll play it safe for now," Thomas
said. "I'll run and get dinner for everyone and we'll figure out
what to do about classes tomorrow."

Charlie and Dani ended up going with him,
while the rest of us waited nervously. Mariana and I sat down and
shared our pictures from Chile. It didn't take long before the
others were back. We ate dinner and then unpacked. When it was my
turn to shower I eagerly hurried into the bathroom. It was going to
be nice to finally take a good, hot shower without Charlie in the
room with me.

Chapter 18

Feeling great after my shower, I returned to
the room and started unpacking my suitcase. There were enough
drawers that we had all been able to claim a couple, although I'd
have to get some clean clothes from my room soon. Charlie was
sitting on his bed reading and Dani was working on his essay.
Thomas, Mariana, and TS were at the table having what looked like a
serious conversation. I tried to listen in while stuffing a laundry
bag with my dirty clothes.

"I know it's only two days to Peru, but I'm
worried we're not going to be enough, Tom," TS said.

Thomas didn't look happy. "I know. I just..."
He sighed heavily.

"What about Mark?" Charlie said.

Thomas and TS both looked at him. "Who?"
Thomas asked.

"Mark, my roommate. You're invited into my
room already, so that takes care of that problem. Plus, Mark is
kind of a jerk. I don't know, I mean," Charlie shrugged, "if you
have to feed without permission I would think you'd feel a little
less guilty about someone like him."

Thomas looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Actually, I think I would. And the invite would make things
easier."

"What about Crackhead Jim?" Mariana
asked.

This time everyone asked, "Who?"

"You saw him, Dani. The creepy guy," Mariana
said.

"Oh, the one with the scabby knuckles? Man,
he is creepy," Dani said. "I don't know how he got on this voyage,
he looks like trouble."

"Why is he called Crackhead Jim?" TS
asked.

Mariana shrugged. "Supposedly he smokes crack
and who-knows what else. If half of the stories he tells are
true..."

"Would it be a problem if he is on
something?" Dani asked.

Thomas shook his head. "It would get filtered
out before it hit my bloodstream. I guess...yeah. I guess I'll
start with him and Mark tomorrow," he said reluctantly.

"I really think you need three," TS said
softly.

"I know that!" Thomas snapped. TS winced,
almost adorably, like a puppy. Thomas dropped his head into his
heads. "I'm sorry. I'm really, really not looking forward to
this."

I didn't really have any ideas to contribute,
so I had just been unpacking quietly. Then an idea struck me and I
couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before. Dani's voice echoed
in my head.
Drinking your blood would be like drinking from
three non-magics
. I opened my mouth and then closed it again.
Did I really want to say it? TS didn't answer Thomas and the
silence dragged on. Thomas was on the verge of feeding without
permission for the first time ever and it was obviously a hard
decision. Nobody knew what to say to make him feel better. I
doubted anyone could say anything. But maybe I could.